The occurrence and variety of orthopedic problems, particularly podiatric problems for human beings, are legion. Among the orthopedic problems are those incurred by amputees or by athletes. In general, many orthopedic problems may be met by assisting in the padding provided by the body's natural fatty pad and by reestablishing stability of the particular body portion.
For example, a padding assistance function of podiatric cushions aids in reducing the concentrations of weight on pressure points produced by bones in the foot, and is particularly desirable for patients with conditions such as diabetes, peripheral neuropath and fat atrophy.
Also, a podiatric cushion's function of reestablishing foot stability is particularly desirable for those persons who have a tendency to cock the foot sideways to the ground, due to a bone spur or congenital deformity such as metatarsus varus.
Various types of pads, orthotic footwear inlays and the like, are known in the art which are intended to more comfortably accommodate a portion of a user's body, such as the foot of persons encountering foot problems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,236, issued July 8, 1980, is concerned with a particularly useful orthopedic cushion which is comprised of a flexible envelope and an elongated member which extends outwardly from the cushion. A diverticulum opens off of the elongated member. The interiors of the envelope, elongated member and diverticulum are under partial vacuum. Within the envelope is a flowable highly viscous material. The orthopedic cushions of the aforementioned patent are fitted to a user by placing the flexible envelope containing the vacuum packed highly viscous material against the patient's body, adjusting the amount of the viscous material within the envelope between the envelope and the diverticulum as the patient's body bears against the envelope, sealing off the elongated member between the envelope and the diverticulum with a clamp, and then sending off the resulting clamped structure to the manufacturer whereat the elongated member is sealed off at the envelope, cut off and discarded. The resulting product provides sturdy, comfortable accommodation to and support of the foot. However, there is a good deal of delay in transporting the clamped structure to the sealing facility and there is the chance that the clamp will slip thus causing additional delays or leakage of the viscous material between the envelope and the diverticulum whereby the final product will not properly accommodate the user's body. Also, the manufacturer cannot simply store a number of such envelopes pre made up in different sizes and with differing amounts of enclosed fluid to fill the needs of different patients, all ready to ship or deliver in response to a prescription.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.